Waiting for Sleep to Find Me
by Alien-Ariel
Summary: Jaeda Chou has come a long way to get to Amestris, and is anything but a typical traveler. But when she meets her alchemical muses in the streets of Rush Valley, her true journey begins. Al/OC, EdWin, slight Fuery/OC Rated just in case
1. A Change of Scenery

This story has a really good back-story, which I am SO excited to get out there. It'll come when it's time, of course.

**So check back for more soon!**

**Here's Jaeda, if you were interested:**

**.com/albums/j133/Xanaphia96/Waiting%20for%20Sleep%20to%20Find%**

**And please, tell me what you think. Enjoy!**

"Ohh..." I panted, "It sure is hot in Amestris." I shrugged off my jacket and shawl, just leaving them in the bust street. If it was always like this here, I guess I wouldn't need them anymore. My bare arms and stomach would be very tan very soon, I think.

"Miss!" I heard a voice call after me. I turned around to see a little girl holding up my discarded clothes, "You dropped these, miss." I smiled at the girl, walked over, and laid a hand on her brown curls.

"Thank you, little girl, but that's okay. You keep them." The girl eyes lit up and I smiled wider, laughing a bit, "Think of them as a present from Xing."

Several hours later I was still wandering the streets of Rush Valley. I was tired and hungry and still very, very hot.

"I would take something else off," I said to myself, "If it wouldn't be considered indecent." Nothing else could be lost on top, and I was reluctant to ruin my favorite white capri cut pants, which just looked so good on my athletic frame. I rubbed my pale belly and it immediately rumbled its complaints.

"Be quiet stomach. I know you're empty." I mumbled despondently, but then stopped myself. Being here in Amestris, even with the hunger, soreness, and blistering heat, was still better than life in Xing. I just wish I had some money to spend in a restaurant, to sit and relax and eat. I knew I could use alchemy to fabricate some gold, but I also knew that to be wrong. I respected the rules, but what good was the use of learning alchemy over Rentanjutsu if I couldn't abuse it? I sighed huffily and pouted.

However, Fate seemed to be on my side finally, and for maybe the first time since I started my journey across the desert. The alley I had stumbled into was currently housing another person aside from myself. To my surprise and great thanks this person, out stone-cold and face-down in the dirt, was none other than the Xingese Prince Ling. This could be useful. He was a wealthy and well-connected teenager.

I hurried to kneel by his side and poke him awake. At least, that's what I had planned on; too bad he didn't even move. I had to be careful about how I acted around a Prince, the unconsciousness notwithstanding. So, after some hesitation and careful thought, I shook him. Not even a groan. I sat down in the dirt and reevaluated my situation. So maybe he wasn't in a way to help me on his own, but he might still be of some use. As I was thinking this, a clanking sound came to me from the side of the alley open to the street.

"Are you two alright, miss?" A hollow sounding voice asked me, I turned my head and kind of drew back when I saw not a person but a huge suit of armor.

I grappled for words and might have said something vaguely similar to "unconscious", but I was mostly too startled for coherent speech. The armor picked up Prince Ling by the back of his jacket and, aghast, I might have yelled something else like "not like that!", but it went unheard. The armor was turned towards someone else, and thus wasn't able to take a stab at communication back.

"Take him back to where you found him." I heard a short boy about my age say, his gold eyes lowered to slits. He slurped some more of his drink up through a straw and looked very nonchalant about it.

"How can you be so mean?!" The armor yelled at the blond boy, pointing at Prince Ling, who was once again deposited back in the dirt. Thinking quick, I worked up some tears.

"Oh please help us!" I wailed from the alley, running over to the two strangers. I intertwined my fingers together in front of me and tried to look helpless, "We have traveled so far, my brother and I. We are hungry and tired-" I paused to cover my face and sob, rather convincingly I thought, "And we don't know anyone here. I just don't know what we ever will do!" I completely broke down now and slumped to the ground for dramatic emphasis. My timing was very effective. I felt a metal hand pat my back.

"Don't worry miss, we'll help you." The hollow voice said, "Won't we, brother?" I rose what I hoped to be pleading eyes to the short boy, my lower lip quivering pathetically. He looked off down the road and scratched the back of his head. I could see his resolve dissolving in my wide, glassy eyes.

"Fine." He said, defeated, "But only until you're feeling a little less helpless." It was hard to tell whether or not he has seen through my charade. Regardless, I was getting some much needed food and rest.

"Thank you, kind sirs!" I said, keeping up the vulnerable traveler act for my own amusement. I stood up and bowed to them, "My... brother and I," I started carefully, "Are most appreciative."


	2. Choosing Sides

**Okay, here's chapter two. Just some more introductory stuff.**

**Again, here's Jaeda, if you wanted to see the way I made her:**

**.com/albums/j133/Xanaphia96/Waiting%20for%20Sleep%20to%20Find%**

**Tell me what you think. Reviews keep me going! Enjoy!**

I was in the bathroom of some little restaurant soon after. My stomach was full and, being out of the hot sun, I was thankfully much cooler. I got to eat in peace, because Ling hadn't woken up quite yet; I could worry about him snitching on me later. Because Prince Ling was most definitely not my brother. By no stretch of the imagination was he even distantly related to me. We came from two very different clans; he was a prince and, quite frankly, I was nowhere near royalty. Oh well, if he ratted me out, at least I'd gotten myself a free meal, despite the blond boy being adamant about not treating me.

I don't think I'd care too much if they found out I'd lied and kicked me to the curb, but a nagging feeling in my gut told me to start caring. For whatever reason; I was an intuitive type, and had feelings like that all the time about everything.

In my alchemical studies as a child, I learned about alchemists in the west. I remember being fascinated with Amestris and all its goings-on. As I grew older, I caught wind of these two alchemist brothers about me age doing really amazing things, and I mostly focused on their work and research. My peers studying Rentanjutsu just couldn't understand my captivation with alchemy and western sciences. They said alchemy was incomplete and primitive, sometimes even going as far to say it was an ugly science. However, that didn't hinder my curious spirit; I never really fit in anyway.

While I redid my hair in the mirror (high pigtails of four separate braids each), I contemplated who my gallant rescuers (ha) might be. I had found out they were brothers. They were obviously kind people, softies deep down if not on the surface, and seemed very intelligent. I could sense something else about them, something dark. It made my stomach twist a little, like it sometimes does, but of course I didn't know what it was going on about. Otherwise, I hadn't asked anything of them. To ask too much is to become too attached. But was that a bad thing?

While they had been pretty quiet about themselves, they seemed very interested in me. They had immediately picked up that I was not from Amestris, and I told them I was from Xing. They seemed impressed by that, but it wasn't such a dramatic thing. I had the ability to endure, so crossing the desert wasn't too unbearable. They were also fairly interested in the medical properties of Rentanjutsu, but I had to disappoint them there, as I had studied alchemy instead. They showed me some of what they could do. I was so interested.

Deciding it was a good time to return, hoping to maybe learn a little alchemy from them, I pushed open the door to the outdoor dining patio. The scene was suddenly very different from the one I had left.

"Not so fast." Ling was saying presently, and snapped his fingers. Quick as lightning, two royal guards appeared and drew weapons on the brothers.

There was a short exchange while I stayed in the doorway. Before I knew it, a full-blown fight had started, right in the street. Amestris sure was a different place. I didn't know what side to fight for, so I just stayed put. Eventually, after adding another 100 cenz worth of desserts to the brother's tab, Ling stood and walked off in the wake of destruction. I hurried after him, curious to see what was happening.

When we arrived to where the fight had presumably ended, I was pretty shocked to see the royal guards tied up, the armor not looking at all worse for wear, and the blond boy's arm off. I was alarmed at first, until I noticed that it was automail.

Ling took off when a crowd of angry townspeople made the scene, demanding money for repairs and the huge bill he had run up at the restaurant. I didn't try to follow him. If these two brothers had won a fight against royal guards, they were obviously people I should stick with, if they let me. I walked over to the armor when the angry mob had cleared out; he was repairing the walls on a corner shop.

"Would you like some help?" I asked. The armor looked over to me when he had finished the wall.

"Oh, hello." He said, "I didn't realize you had followed us. But no, I can handle this. It'll go faster if I do it."

"Oh." I said, looking off down the decimated main street, "No, I think I'll help. To repay you for the meal."

"You really don't have to. It was no prob-" He stopped when I put my hands together and repaired the sidewalk clear down the street.

"What?" I asked at his shocked silence.

"Y-you can do alchemy with a transmutation circle..." He said to me, pointing at the sidewalk. I looked down at my work; I thought it looked a little uneven, and it was definitely not something to marvel at.

There was only one way to explain why he would be so disturbed: he knew. I noticed him and his brother did alchemy the same way as me, when they were showing off at the restaurant. But they must know that it's not a normal thing. This armor had to know what I had attempted, or at least he thought he knew. If that sort of thing was as much of a taboo over here as it was in Xing, it would be best not to be found out. The best thing to do would be to play dumb.

"Yeah, so?" I asked, "So can you." I hoped I sounded convincing. It seemed to work, because he didn't press the matter. Instead he changed the subject, which was a relief.

"I'm Alphonse Elric, and my brother is Ed." He said. Some distant memory twitched in the back of my mind, but I didn't think more about it.

"Jaeda Chou." I replied.

As long as the polite conversations continued, I might eventually learn to trust them enough to reveal my secret. Or not. Either way, I'd only talk about my past when I was ready.


	3. Ratted Out

**Okay, sorry this one took a little while, but this is probably about normal. One a week sounds good, yeah?**

**Anyway, not much else to say.**

**Tell me what you think. Enjoy!**

"We should get back." Ed said to Al, his automail arm slung over his good shoulder, "Winry's gonna kill me though."

"You shouldn't have fought so hard, brother." Al replied as they started to walk down the repaired main street. I followed, hands behind my back. Ed glanced back and stopped dead.

"What're you still doing here?" He asked, glaring. I smiled back, trying to look sweet.

"Al said I could come with you. So I'm following." Ed turned his gaze to his brother now, who looked flustered. He stuttered for words before sighing in defeat.

"I'm sorry brother. But we can't just abandon her!" Ed remained unfazed.

"What did I say about picking up strays?" He asked with an even, almost bored tone.

"Hey!" I yelled, hands on hips, "I'm no stray." Ed turned back to me.

"Then why are you following us like you're lost?" He asked, sounding confident.

"Because I've got nowhere to go." I said, refusing to let up.

"That's right you don't, because you're a-" He tried to finish, but I cut him off.

"Because I'm from Xing, you idiot. I said that already; is your memory so short?" I said defiantly, matching his glare.

"Don't say short!" He blurted. I grinned wickedly.

"What about pipsqueak, or midget, or small?" I teased. Each jab was awarded with an angry noise and an even angrier look.

"That's it! Girl or not I'm gonna-" The rest was unintelligible, as he completely lost his cool.

"Brother!" Al scolded, holding Ed back, "Where are your manners?" It took a while for Ed to calm down.

"I have manners!" He retorted, straightening his jacket when Al let him go, "But she was asking for-"

"Brother!" Al cut in again, sounding serious, "This girl has nowhere to go; we can't just leave her." Ed evaluated his younger brother.

"Fine." Ed caved, "But you'd best watch what you say!" He pointed a warning finger at me.

"Ok, deal." I agreed, crossing my arms and smirking, knowing I'd won the first battle in what was sure to be a war. But then turned softer eyes to Al.

"I really appreciate it. I won't undervalue your kindness." I said sincerely. Al put a hand on the back of his hand and laughed a little.

"It's no problem." He assured me, "We're happy to have you, even if Ed doesn't show it." I smiled.

"Ok, good. I'll try to be of some help to you guys." We set off after Ed, who had taken the opportunity to get a ways ahead of us. I noticed some dark-skinned girl fall into step with him; but I didn't recognize her.

"Oh!" Al said while we walked, "Your brother took off with those guys in black. Will he be alright?" I swallowed, getting a little nervous.

"Oh yeah. He'll be just fine. He's really tough." I said. At least that wasn't a lie; those royal guards would be ready for anything. Al didn't ask anything else, which I was grateful for. As long as we never met again, it wouldn't matter.

~*~

But of course, luck wasn't on my side. When we stopped into a mechanic's shop belonging to an effeminate man named Garfiel, Ling was sitting down at a table drinking tea. I tried not to look alarmed. Ling waved cheerfully, but Ed immediately went to smack the side of his head with his broken arm. While the boys squabbled and the girl Ed had been worried about (Winry) beat him to a pulp (I assumed she was his enraged automail mechanic), the dark-skinned girl approached me.

"You aren't from around here, are you?" She asked me. I smiled.

"No, I'm from Xing." I replied; the girl looked impressed, "I'm Jaeda."

"Paninya." She said, holding her hand out. Knowing western culture, I shook it. I guess it was something I'd have to get used to.

"It's nice to meet someone so nice in a place so far away from home. I don't know anyone here." I conceded, laughing a little.

"But-" Paninya said, looking confused, "Isn't that guy your brother? That's what Al told me-"

"I am no relative of this peasant!" Ling interrupted indignantly, apparently having been listening in out conversation. I knew I was in trouble now.

"A peasant?" Ed asked, "Well what's that make you?" He continued rudely.

"That makes me a prince, actually." Ling said, pointing at himself.

"Jaeda, you're a princess?" Winry gushed excitedly. The room unexploded with unreasonable thoughts now in all the excitement.

"Wow, that is impressive." Paninya said.

"Oh my dear girl, why would you leave Xing if you are royalty?" Mr. Garfiel asked, covering his mouth with a hand. I smacked my forehead.

"No!" I yelled, the room getting a little too loud for me, "I'm not related to Ling. I'm no princess..." There was a long pause.

"But Jaeda," Al said quietly, "Why would you lie?" I sighed heavily and explained how I had planned to beg Ling for help when I found him, and then used him being unconscious to my advantage later with the brothers. I stood there, staring down at my bare feet, when I'd finished.

"Using a prince as bait." Ling said, crossing his arms, "How very dishonorable of you." My shoulders slumped, "But also very clever."

"Yeah, if lies are clever." I heard Ed mumble. Winry hit him over the head.

I looked up at Ling with a curious look. He was smiling, surprisingly. He took one of my hands and felt my palm.

"Your hands are rough." He commented, "I suspect you have lived many hard days."

"And," I replied, smiling in the corners of my mouth, "I suspect you've lived many easy days." He chuckled.

"It's not always so easy being a prince." He replied, but not harshly, "But I'm sure my guards live hard lives trying to keep up with me. I'm sure they are worried." Knowing his reputation, I found I was able to laugh too.


	4. Central Troubles

**Ok, so this one's out early.**

**As a thank you, you should all review! Huh, huh?**

**Do what you want, of course, everybody. I'm just happy to have readers! Enjoy!**

We had taken a train to a place called Central. People here didn't seem to push much creativity into city names here, but I was quite fine with that; I knew exactly where we were because of that name, which was actually comforting. For a while now, I'd only known I was in Amestris. We stepped onto the platform and headed for an exit.

"Let's go check out headquarters first." Ed was saying as I looked around excitedly, "Lt. Colonel Hughes should be at the Military Council department, right?" Winry nodded.

"Who's Lt. Colonel Hughes?" I asked Winry, whom I had become quite friendly with during the trip here.

"He's a very nice man Ed, Al and I got to know the last time we were here." Winry explained, smiling at some memory.

"It'll be nice to meet someone like that." I said, smiling.

"Oh, you should come with me when I go to visit his family!" Winry continued, "His wife is just as kind and his daughter Elicia is the sweetest little girl." Then she turned to look at Ed and Al, who were whispering to each other.

"What're you two talking so softly about?" She asked curiously.

"Men's talk." Ed said, looking grumpy. Winry growled slightly.

"It's always like that when I ask." She said huffily. I giggled at her look.

"Hey!" A voice said. We turned around to see Mr. Fuu, "Where is the Young Master? I thought he was with you the whole time."

The four of us looked around for Ling, who had been very quiet since we got off the train. Maybe that's because he was missing again. Mr. Fuu and Ran Fan dramatically fell to the ground, probably not looking forward to searching for him again. I could see what he meant. Regardless, the rest of us continued on.

"He'll be okay." I said to Winry, who looked nervous.

"Jaeda how you could you just leave your brother?!"

"He's not my brother, Winry."

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

We all laughed and headed towards this huge military complex. When we arrived, the three of them seemed to recognize a lady with blonde hair clipped at the back of her head and wearing a military uniform. This lady and my new friend stood there complimenting each other while I stood awkwardly besides them.

"And who's this?" The lady eventually said in my general direction.

"Oh!" I said, caught off guard, "I'm Jaeda Chou. It's nice to meet you ma'am." I said because I didn't know what else to call her. She chuckled quietly and held out her hand.

"You don't have to call me ma'am Jaeda; you aren't in the military." I shook her hand, "Just call me Riza." I smiled at her.

"Jaeda's from Xing!" Winry added, sounding as if she couldn't keep the information in any longer.

"My, that's quite a ways. What brings you to Amestris?" Riza asked me. I was saved from having to make up an answer by a car door slamming shut behind me.

"Hey Full Metal." A handsome man also in a military uniform addressed Ed. I was confused by the name (but soon learned it was Ed's military codename) and wouldn't have known whom he was talking to if not for Ed's hilarious face. Al said hello and called the man a Colonel, which sounded very important and impressive.

"What's up with Ed?" I asked Al while the Colonel flirted shamelessly with Winry and Ed grumbled audibly, a hand on his forehead.

"Oh, him and Colonel Mustang have the tendency to butt heads." Al said, laughing.

"I can see that." I said, laughing slightly as the two of them appeared to be sizing each other up.

~*~

We had checked into a nice hotel soon after meeting up with miss Riza and Colonel Mustang. I guess the guy we'd been going to visit wasn't in Central anymore, so, not having much else to do right away, we were just hanging out in the hotel.

Ed had holed himself up in his and Al's room next door to "work", warning us "silly girls" not to bother him, which I found suspicious for a teenaged boy to say. And Al was out scouring the street for a newspaper. So it was just Winry and I in our room.

"I've never met anyone from outside Amestris, you know." Winry was telling me from her bed. I was sitting cross-legged on mine, rocking back and forth experimentally.

"Xing really isn't so great." I said, bouncing a little and giggling, "I'm kind of surprised there aren't more of us over here."

"What's so good about Amestris?" Winry asked, chuckling a little at me.

"The beds, for example." I said, falling onto my back and sinking into the comforter, "They're soft and I don't have to share it with my whole family." I scooted so I could see Winry's face.

"Does your family know you're here, Jaeda?" She asked me, sounding a little more serious. I averted my eyes but decided I could trust this girl... with some information.

"No. They don't." I said, looking back to her, "But I won't be missed. I don't know if I really miss they either..." I trailed off. Winry looked at me with sad eyes.

"I'm sure they miss you, Jaeda. You should miss them too." She told me, now staring down into her lap. I was quiet, thinking.

"Winry." I started carefully, "Does your family know you're here?"

"No." She confessed, "They aren't... really around anymore." I saw the tears before I heard her sob. I was over in a flash, giving her a hug she readily accepted.

"If your parents are still alive," She said after a minute, "You should love them. You should miss them. Because not everyone has their parents anymore." I swallowed harshly, feeling guilty.

"I do, Winry. Every day." And I meant it. Because they were never the source of my problems, my parents. They were always good to me, their only daughter. I knew I was breaking their hearts when I ran away, but I had to. I had to.

Winry and I had calmed ourselves down by the time we heard commotion next door in Ed and Al's room. Winry got up to poke her head out the door into the hall and I followed.

"What is it, Al?" She asked.

"Yeah," I added, "You guys sure are loud."

"Jaeda!" Al exclaimed.

"Winry..." Ed whispered. Winry and I exchanged looks. Something was wrong.

"Sorry!" Ed said in passing, sounding strangled, "We'll explain everything after we confirm it."

I tried to grab one of them, to slow them down enough to ask some questions. Al put a hand on my shoulder and looked down at me.

"You stay here. It may not be safe for you." He told me. And then they were gone, leaving Winry and I alone in the hall.

"What happened?!" Winry screamed down the empty hall, looking frustrated and hurt, "They always do this..." She sounded a little choked.

"They'll be okay." I tried to reassure her, and myself, "They're tough."


	5. My Alchemical Muses

So I just noticed that the link to Jaeda's picture didn't work. So if you can't find it on photobucket by yourself, send me a message and I'll send it to you.

**And you may have noticed, I've changed the pairings a bit. The main one will still be Al/Jaeda, but my other OC, who has yet to appear, will no longer be paired with Ed (now in the EdWin category). She'll have a slight thing with Fuery, but nothing major.**

**Anyway, please tell me what you think! Enjoy!**

I sighed into the darkness. I didn't know how long I had been lying in bed, but Winry had dropped off ages ago; I could hear her gentle breaths to my left. For a while I had matched her, hoping the steady pattern would lower my heart rate and quiet my mind, but it only made me short of breath and dizzy.

Waiting for sleep to find me was frustrating.

_The rejection would be like a bomb waiting to explode. _Al's voice echoed through my head from earlier that day.

Realizing I wouldn't be drifting off tonight, no matter how long I tried, I slid our from the sheets and out through the door. The soft padding of my bare feet was accentuated by the clicking of nails some few feet behind me.

"Awake too, huh?" I whispered, sensing a small creature step beside me in the dark hallway when I stopped. His noisy breathing was the only indication he really was there, "Hold on boy." I said, hearing someone else sigh from over by the staircase. I pointed to some darker shadows and he obediently disappeared into them. When I came to the top of the stairs, I was thankful to only see Al there, about halfway down and staring out through a wide arched window.

"Jaeda." He said, noticing me. I went to sit on the step above the ones he was occupying.

"Aren't you tired?" I asked him. He turned to look at me briefly, searching my face or something like that, and then back out through the window.

"No, not really." He said, "Aren't you?" I pulled my knees up to my chin.

"Yes." I admitted, "But I just have a lot on my mind..."

_Not having to eat, and feeling no pain. Isn't that body convenient to have? _Ling had pressed.

_As usual, you know nothing of real human suffering._ I had yelled before storming out and locking myself in my room.

"Al," I said, my voice uncharacteristically small, "You can't sleep, can you?"

"No." He said. I tilted my head up, towards the full moon.

"The nights are so much longer than the days." I said. Al just looked at me, in such a way that I felt he was analyzing me, "I can't sleep either, Al."

"You-" Al started, "You can't...?" I rubbed my eyes.

"No." I replied, "I'm a pretty bad insomniac. I'm lucky to sleep for a few hours a week."

"I don't understand." Al said, his glowing eyes boring into me.

"When my mind runs wild it won't let me sleep." I explain, "It started when... Well, it started about a year ago." I stop myself from saying too much. Al looks at my pale face a few seconds longer and then turns towards the window.

"Al..." I said quietly, thinking about my next words carefully, "You and your brother are the Elrics that tried to bring your dead mother back." There was no hint of a question there. The thought had kept me awake since I met them and learned their names.

"Tried and failed." Al corrected me. I nodded slightly.

"And you both saw... that thing." I saw Al nod too out of the corner of my eye.

"So did you." He added, "What did it take from you?" He asked softly. I looked over to him.

"My eyes." There was a long pause, the two of us just looking at each other.

"How can you still see?" He asked me.

"My cousin was quite good at Rentanjutsu. She was able to reconstruct my eyes and restore my vision. The only thing that went wrong was some slight discoloration." I explained.

"Discoloration of what?" Al asked. I pointed at my eyes.

"My irises." I said, "Haven't you noticed how odd they are?"

"They're..." Al started, looking closely.

"Jade green." I finished for him, "I figured you and Ed would've noticed right away, they're so strange."

"So is your name just a coincidence?" I shook my head, hesitating.

"Jaeda isn't my real name. It's what my cousin and I started referring to me as when we had to talk about my accident in public. Like we were talking about someone else. She's the only one who knows what actually happened to me."

"What was your real name?" Al asked. I had anticipated the question and found no harm in telling him.

"Kimiko." I said, closing my eyes and trying to remember who that person was, "But please don't call me that. I was Jaeda the moment I tried to bring him back and will be forevermore."

"A father or brother?" Al asked, referring to the "him" I was mentioning. I had to laugh a little at that. He wasn't even close.

"No, not a person." I said. Al seemed confused, so I motioned to the creature still hiding in the shadows. Al seemed ready for some monster to appear, but instead a little pug met him, panting rather loudly like most pugs do.

"A dog?" Al asked sounding relieved when the little thing tumbled down the stairs to lick my face.

"This dog, to be precise." I said, holding him out for Al to see.

"It- it worked?!" Al asked, stopping halfway to pet my dog. I nodded and smiled.

"You can pet him, he's pretty stable." I assured him, and he did after getting over his initial shock. He panted happily.

"How did you get the process to work?" Al asked. More smile turned into a smirk.

"I manipulated your brother's formula. It works quite successfully on animals." I said.

"You read brother's theories?" Al asked, looking at me with still more amazement.

"Yeah," I replied, blushing a little, "You guys were kind of my muses over in Xing. You were the ones that inspired me to try to bring Changfu back. Huh, boy?" I kissed my dog on the head and he swiveled around, trying to lick me.

"He's real..." Al said mostly to himself, scratching Changfu behind his ears, "I really can't believe it could work."

"Just be careful around his face. His eyes pop out if he gets too excited." I warned. Al looked at me disbelievingly, but, as if on cue, my little pug yipped happily and his eyes squeezed right out of his head. Al yelled and drew back but, being used to it, I shoved them back in.

"Told you." I laughed, "Changfu, you need to learn to control that. Yes you do." I cooed, holding him in front of my face and lightly shaking him. He continued to breath in that raspy way and tried to wiggle close enough to lick my nose.

I put him down on the stairs so he could run over to the windowsill and see our new home. He yipped at some people walking hand-in-hand along the street, who maybe heard it faintly through the glass. They stopped to stare at the curious thing for a few seconds before continuing on, probably laughing at my weird little dog. I smiled a little in the corners of my mouth.

"Why'd you bring him back?" Al finally asked me, looking at the silly creature, who's cropped tail was wagging furiously.

"For the same reasons you and Ed had." I started, leaning my cheek on my palm, "I was young and stupid." Al laughed a little, "And because I missed him."

"I can understand that."

"I know you can, Al." We were quiet for a few minutes, but I could tell there was something he wanted to know.

"He's not perfect. He won't live as long as the original." I answered Al's unasked question. Then I continued, because I felt I could trust him, "He sleeps as little as I do... It's like he knows that I'm lonely at night, so he stays up with me."

"You don't have to be lonely, Jaeda." Al said quietly, "We can stay awake together." I smiled.

"Thank you, Al." And I took his hand. Handholding is not a way to greet someone in Xing, but rather a way to express gratitude. But it could also be a way to show deeper feelings. I decided not to think about it, and just enjoy the night; something I hadn't done in a very long time.


End file.
